Generally described, many compressors include stator vane assemblies with a number of stator vanes. Each of the stator vanes includes an airfoil that may extend from a dovetail slot. The stator vanes assemblies may be arranged between adjacent rows of rotor blades. The stator vane assemblies may include a number of stator rings coupled to circumferential slots in the compressor casing. A typical stator ring may be cut into a number of segments and then reassembled to create a 360 degree ring. The ends of these segments generally may have a straight cut while a stator vane dovetail slot may be angled to align with the vane skew angle.
For high solidity stator stages (i.e., high vane count stages), angled end cuts that match the skew angle of the stator vane dovetail slots may be used. Such an angled cut, however, may not effectively transmit tangential aerodynamic loads between adjacent ring segments. Rather, a moment may be created in the ring segment due to the aerodynamic loading of the stator vane. The angled cuts may force the ring segment to rotate within the casing slot so as to produce point loads between the ring segments and the casing and between the ring segments themselves. Such point loads may result in-excessive wear between the components.
There is thus a desire for an improved stator vane assembly. Such an improved assembly may minimize segment to casing wear as well as segment to segment wear due to ring rotation and the like. Reducing such wear may lead to lower overall maintenance and replacement costs for the stator vane assembly and other compressor components.